Tom Goes to the Mayor: "Wrestling"Review

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Tom and the Mayor wrestle, give us 'roid rage.

By Larry Carroll

Is it too early to start a "Best Guest Appearance" Emmy campaign for Gary Busey?

Every year, slumming celebrities get fat paychecks and tons of attention for making wink-wink appearances on sweeps-week television shows. Bob Newhart swings into ER, Bruce Willis mugs his way through a Friends storyline, Marlon Brando staggers into the Barney Miller police station as Fish's long-lost brother - okay, I made that last one up.

The point is that celebrities have a long history of TV cameos, but few have ever approached the heartbreakingly glorious, measured perfection of Gary Busey's life-altering work in the "Wrestling" episode of Tom Goes to the Mayor. Look at that, Tim and Eric: you've already got the quote for your trade publication ads.

The latest installment of the boob tube's most bizarre program began with a daring claim from the [adult swim] title cards: that the episode wouldn't just be good, but that it would be "Porcelain Birds" good. Such a reference to what is arguably the greatest episode in TGTTM history seemed a bit cocky but, for the most part, "Wrestling" bodyslammed the funnybone quite nicely.

The episode begins with international superstar Busey playing a (what else?) insane, intense and mentally incapacitated coach named Red Harris, who has managed the Jefferton "Pinners" team for a quarter-decade. Our old friend Tom, we learn, is the equipment manager charged with the crucial duty of hosing down the jock straps. Uttering an exasperated "What the shirt is this stuff?" a shocked Tom pulls out a giant tub of Flex-a-Max X3 from one of the kid's lockers, learning from the powder's packaging that it's for use in racehorses.

Tom is about to be with Busey, like it or not

"I've seen your father," a furious Busey barks at one of his underachieving wrestlers, "and I've seen stains on his pants that he can't explain!" The former Mr. Joshua gives a performance as hilarious as it is terrifying, nailing the borderline-criminal behavior of gym coaches nationwide, and the picture of the real Gary Busey on the wall behind him -- showing him looking just as crazy, natch -- is the icing on the cake. When Tom attempts to share his concerns with Coach Red, his response is appropriately livid.

After the Coach has a heart attack, The Mayor mistakes Tom for a woman (his equipment manager uniform includes bikini underwear) and appoints him as the new leader of The Pinners. After Tom tries to explain the moral implications of allowing young children to use steroids, The Mayor offers two reasons why he should look the other way: a wrestling statue in his likeness, and all the Flex-a-Max he can snort.

The episode really kicks into overdrive as Tom begins putting the pink stuff up his nose - gaining a deeper voice, several hundred pounds, and plenty of 'roid rage. A borderline-comatose Busey, meanwhile, keeps reappearing throughout the episode as he mumbles loudly from a wheelchair, clutching an oxygen tank.

Eric and Tim clearly have plenty of fun with the concept, from the image of the Married News Team wrestling each other (crotches vs. faces, apparently) to Tom taking on a series of youngsters as an "Eye of the Tiger"-like inspirational tune fuels the sequence. In the end, Tom pulls out the deadly "Crab" finishing move, paralyzing a child much like The Mayor did numerous times during his own career. An unsettling flash-forward gives the episode a tragic, but grin-inducing, ending that seems to come a bit too fast.

After the final bell has rung, is "Wrestling" really the greatest TGTTM episode of all time? Sorry [adult swim] title cards, but it isn't quite "Porcelain Birds," and there are several other episodes that would still have to rank above it. Keep putting Busey in there, however, and you're on the right track.